New Delhi: Nikki Haley may have been born in the United States but her extended family back in India is thrilled that the South Carolina governor has been named by US President-elect Donald Trump as ambassador to the United Nations.
Haley’s parents hail from rural Punjab. They moved to Amritsar before emigrating to North America in the early 1960s.
Haley, 44, was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina — she was called “Nikki” as a child and took the family name of husband Michael when they married in Sikh and Methodist ceremonies in 1996.
Kanwaljit Singh Randhawa, a 70-year-old cousin, said that family and friends were delighted by Ms Haley’s appointment and said it could help improve relations between the United States and India. “It is a great achievement for Punjab and India. We are proud of the fact that (Nikki) has achieved this success,” Randhawa told Reuters by telephone. A retired lecturer, he said he was in regular touch with Nikki’s father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who grew up in the village of Pandori Ran Singh, south of Amritsar.
Ms Haley’s relatives and old family friends are planning a major celebration in Punjab to mark her elevation to the top United Nations post. “We are going to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to pray for her success,” Randhawa said. “And we will speak to our friends and villagers to have a function in the next few days.”
In New Delhi, the external affairs ministry said it was very happy to hear of Ms Haley’s appointment, calling her a supporter of closer US-India ties who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Washington in June. “We know Governor Haley very well,” said MEA spokesman Vikas Swarup.
Ms Haley came only once to India as a four-year-old child and doesn’t speak Punjabi. But she visited India more recently in an official capacity, going to Amritsar in November 2014 on what she called “an emotional and very personal day”.
